Thursday, March 27, 2008

More from Scougal

A Prayer

Good God! What a mighty felicity is this to which we are called? How graciously hast thou joined our duty and happiness together, and prescribed that for our work, the performance whereof is a great reward! And shall such silly worms be advanced to so great a height? Wilt thou allow us to raise our eyes to thee? Wilt thou admit and accept our affection? Shall we recieve the impression of thy divine excellencies by beholding and admiring them, and partake of thy infinite blessesness and glory by loving thee, and rejoicing in them?

Oh! the happiness of those souls that have broken the fetters of self-love, and disentangled their affection from every narrow and peculiar good, whose understandings are enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and their wills enlarged to the extent of thine, who love thee above all things, and all mankind for thy sake!

I am persuaded, O God, I am persuaded that I can never be happy, till my carnal and corrupt affections be mortified, and the pride and vanity of my spirit be subdued, and till I come seriously to despise the world, and think nothing of myself.

But, oh! when shall it once be! Oh! when wilt thou come unto me and satisfy my soul with thy likeness, makine me holy as thou art holy, even in manner of all conversation! Hast thou given me a prospect of so great a felicity, and wilt thou not bring me unto it? Hast thou excited thse desires in my soul, and wilt thou not also satisfy them?

Oh! teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God, thy Spirit is good, lead me unto the land of uprightness. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake, and perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever, forsake not the works of thine own hands.

Posted by Broun at 15:08:54 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The Life of God in the Soul of Man

A prayer from Henry Scougal one of the most influential men/books of my life (who happened to die in 1657)..
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Infinite and eternal Majesty, author and foundation of being and blessesness, how little do we poor sinful creatures know of thee, or the way to serve and please thee! We talk of religion, and pretend unto it; but alas! how are there that know and consider what it means! How easily do we mistake the affections of our nature, and issues of self-love, for those divine graces which alone can render us acceptable in thy sight!
  It may justly grieve me to consider, that I should have wondered so long, and contented myself so often with vain shadows, and false images of piety and religion; yet I cannot but acknowledge, and adore thy goodness, who hast been pleased, in some measure, to open mine eyes, and let me see what it is at which I ought to aim. I rejoice to consider what mighty improvements my nature is capable of, and what a divine temper of spirit doth shine in those whom thou are pleased to choose, and causest to approach unto thee.
  Blessed by thine infinite mercy, who sentest thine own Son to dwell among men, and instruct them by his example, as well as his laws, giving them a perfect pattern of what they ought to be. Oh! that the holy life of the blessed Jesus may always be in my thoughts, and before mine eyes, till I recieve a deep sense and impression of those excellent graces that shined so eminently in him; and let me never cease my endeavours, till that new and divine nature prevail in my soul, and Christ be formed within me.

Posted by Broun at 16:44:02 | Permalink | Comments (4)

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Christian Perfection - Francis Fenelon

3 Stages of the Simplicity of Self Blinded-ness

One…  Freeing ourselves from an intoxication to material or outward things and becoming sensitive to the things of the spirit especially our own inward condition.  It is a healthy step but we are still very self-centered and far from genuine simplicity

Two…  We move away from the total absorption in ourselves and our eternal destiny to being centered in the fear of God.  This is a stage of great honesty and sincerity.  Yet sincerity is not simplicity.  We still lack the ease, freedom, and naturalness that mark true interior simplicity.

Three…  We move now into a place where our attention becomes drawn more and more into the divine center.  We begin to consider God more often than ourselves.  We insensibly forget self to become more concerned with God, with a love de-viod of self interest.
Posted by snake eyes at 13:58:10 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Thursday, March 13, 2008

The Bastard Daughter of Religion

I had the unique privelege of visiting a mexican prison yesterday with the expressed intent of bringing life, truth, and hope through simple things like brining clothes, food, baby necessities but was troubled by something i found there. The prison seems to operate more like a tribal community with many shops and stores run by the inmates. Don’t get me wrong I’m all for providing opportunities for people to eat and provide but this was more like the scene where Jesus is running people out of sacred space by trying to make it profane for they were pawning off every terribly cheesy-psalm-slapped-on-a-waterfall to every unassuming christian mexican in the lot. Meanwhile from the interior of the church located in the prison I am listening to message (mind you directed to convicted criminals) about how more than salvation, family, truth, God cares more about specifically economic prosperity. I have never in my life listened to something so completely unabashed in error and bought hook line and sinker by everyone there, including the people i visited the prison with! What a low view of Christ when his broken body and shed blood become a means to our end instead of vice versa! How do we/I begin to counteract something like this restoring Christ to his position above every situation and circumstance using prosperity and suffering to make me more like himself?

From Alexis de Tocquville’s visit to America in the late 18th century speaking of the preachers he encountered…
“It is often difficult to ascertain from their discourses whether the principal object of religion is to procure eternal felicity in the other world or prosperity in this”

Posted by Broun at 15:57:29 | Permalink | Comments (3)

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Tactics and Techniques Far from The Christ

In re-rummaging through an old book, The Call, by Os Guinness I came across an arresting little paragraph that called almost every ministry “method” modern man has conceived and implemented. Let’s take a look..

“All too often our familiarity with the Gospels breeds inattention. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer insisted, “The response of the disciples is an act of obedience, not a confession of faith in Jesus.” They did not consider his claims, make up their minds, and then decide whether to follow- they simply heard and obeyed. Their response is a “testimony to the absolute, direct, and unaccountable authority of Jesus.” The Call is all. Jesus is the reason. The only way to follow is to leave everything and follow him. Here is a call that makes short work of all our questions, objections, and evasions. Disciples are not so much those who follow as those who must follow.”

Have we gotten everything incredibly backwards, if so how? We provide altar-calls and reflective, pensive music all the while possibly doing the greatest disservice to the true nature of obedience first. What does it look like to have people obeing, following, learning from Jesus before professing His Christlikeness? What changes in light of this? How do we share the gospel to make obeying, loving, followers of Christ? Are we ever there?  

Posted by Broun at 14:06:59 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Child Like/Unlike Ness

I find myself playing, let alone associating with, many children these days which is having an interesting impression on how i interpret Jesus many strong words about the nature of children and His Kingdom. At Jesus’ most extreme He claims unless we become like them we have no place in the Kingdom (Matt 18:3) for they are the ones screaming Hosanna in the Triumphal Entry (Matt 21:15). But yet in the same breath in 1 Corinthians Paul can quickly dismiss any arguments that child-like-ness means simplicity in thought, love of the status-quo, and un-reasonableness (1 Cor 13:11, 14:20). So what exactly is Jesus and Paul after in shedding some aspects of adultness and embracing childhood? Certainly children can be as deceitful, cheating, hurtful, and disobedient as the most “mature” one of us? Where are ways we need to grow up? Grow Down?

I’ll leave an interesting quote from Peter Kreeft on one of Pascal’s Pensees…
“Pascal can only stammer and weep like a child. There are no “adult Christians”. It is an oxymoron. The higher we climb, the more childlike we are. Perhaps the profoundest prayer possible, perfectly appropriate for the deepest depths of sorrow and despair and the highest heights of mystical graces of joy, is simply “Jesus, I love you; Jesus, I love you”, again and again forever. “

certainly a child can do that.

Posted by Broun at 15:37:42 | Permalink | Comments (2)